The Helsinki District Court has handed down several lengthy prison sentences in a wide-ranging narcotics network case with 23 defendants and almost 70 charges.
Most of the verdicts were given for serious drug offences committed between 2019 and 2021 in different parts of the Helsinki metropolitan area.
A total of 16 defendants received prison sentences, while three received suspended sentences.
According to the court, the drug ring trafficked considerable quantities of illegal narcotics into Finland. Estimates by the police place the street value of the drugs to be at about six million euros.
The district court sentenced Teemu Juhani Kirves— the head of a Sweden-based drug syndicate — to four years in prison for several aggravated narcotics offences.
A 13-year prison sentence was demanded for Kirves, the court however considered that a Swedish sentence he received earlier would have extended his sentence past the maximum 13 years.
Various drugs smuggled and sold
The groups procured marijuana in Albania and mailed the contraband to Finland via Spain.
"For example, cocaine and amphetamines have been sold using warehouses to the drug network's own customers and through the so-called dark web sales platform," the court stated in its ruling.
The court further noted that the group used methods including encrypted SkyECC phones to communicate in an attempt to circumvent surveillance by the authorities.
Sentences varied between two years and ten months to 12 and a half year sentence handed down to Joakim Kuusela for aggravated drug offences, trafficking and firearms offences.
The convicted individuals denied most of the charges and the cases can still be appealed to a higher court.
Would you like a roundup of the week's top stories in your inbox every Thursday? Then sign up to receive our weekly email!